How Stalin created World Music: A writer at large; The leaders of the Soviet bloc hated traditional music and tried to tame its subversive nature by channelling it into bland, official kitsch. It seemed to work in most countries - but in Bulgaria it created the hair- raising sound which later spearheaded the rise of World Music. Record producer JOE BOYD investigates Le Mystere de Voix Bulgare and other ironies of Communist culture

Bob Dylan's manager, the legendary Albert Grossman, flew back to New York from Paris in the spring of 1965 with a tape in his briefcase. He was closing a deal [...]